The firefighter badge felt heavier each time Evelyn touched it.
It lay on her desk beneath a pool of lamplight, its surface warped by heat, metal edges curled like something that had survived violence meant to erase it. The number engraved along the rim was partially melted, barely readable, yet impossible to ignore.
She had examined it countless times since the anonymous package arrived.
Each inspection left her with the same unease.
Not fear.
Not grief.
Something quieter.
Doubt.
Outside the estate windows, evening settled over the private grounds in soft gray silence. Security lights flickered on along the perimeter, reminders of the controlled world she had built around herself and her son.
Control had always protected her.
So why did this feel different?
Evelyn picked up the
